The U.S. airstrikes against a Syrian airbase on Friday may mean North Korea could also be at risk of American military action, experts said.

Daily Beast columnist and author Gordon Chang speculates the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un will go into hiding following the attacks as he realizes President Donald Trump is sending a clear warning against nuclear weapons and intercontinental missiles.

In a statement to Fox News, Chang said the strikes 'tells North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un that he must now heed American military power, something that he probably dismissed before.'

Chang noted that previous leader and Jong-un's father Kim Jong Il also disappeared from the public for about six weeks around the time of the war in Iraq.

The airstrikes also send a message to Chinese leader Xi Jinping, whom Trump met with at Mar-a-Lago on Friday. Chang said the People's Liberation Army has also grown dismissive towards the U.S. military and that Jinping may have interpreted the missile launch as a sign of disrespect.

The White House National Security Council has drawn up North Korea options for President Trump that involve killing the country's erratic dictator Kim Jong-un and reinserting U.S. nuclear weapons into South Korea.

President Donald Trump has accepted the invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping to pay a state visit to China this year. Trump has called on China to pressure North Korea

Experts speculate the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un will go into hiding following the attacks as he realizes President Donald Trump is sending a clear warning

The bold options were revealed by NBC News just as President Xi Jinpeng of China wrapped up a visit and meetings with Trump at to Mar-a-Lago. Trump wants China to use its leverage to get North Korea to back off its threatening behavior.

One option the network reported was bringing back nuclear bombs and positioning them likely at Osan Air Base, just 50 miles from Seoul. It would be the first U.S. deployment of nuclear weapons overseas since the end of the Coal War.

'We have 20 years of diplomacy and sanctions under our belt that has failed to stop the North Korean program,' a senior intelligence official who took part told NBC.

RELATED ARTICLES

Share this article

Share

After North Korea fired off yet another ballistic missile last week, the State Department issued a terse statement: 'North Korea launched yet another intermediate range ballistic missile. The United States has spoken enough about North Korea. We have no further comment,' said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Another option would be killing the famously unpredictable leader, who is known for his belligerent threats toward the U.S. and its Asian allies. Wiping out Kim and senior leaders in charge of missiles and nukes would be fraught with risks.

'Discussions of regime change and decapitation ... tend to cause the Chinese great cause of concern and tends to have them move in the opposite direction we would like them to move in terms of pressure,' said former U.S. ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert.

Tillerson in a briefing with reporters on Friday stressed the U.S. commitment to a 'denuclearized' Korean peninsula. President Xi shared the administration's view that the situation had reached a very serious stage, according to cabinet secretaries who briefed reporters.

In the sights: A South Korean Marine trains with a personal anti-tank missile launcher on a beach in Pohang, as part of joint training maneuvers with U.S. Marines

Marines lead the way: South Korean Marines were taking part in exercise Foal Eagle with the U.S. Marine Corps this week in Phang, South Korea, showing some of their assault capability

'I think President Xi, from their part, shared the view that this has reached a very serious stage in terms of the advancement of North Korea’s nuclear capabilities,' Tillerson said.

'They discussed the challenges that introduces for both countries, but there’s a real commitment that we work together to see if this cannot be resolved in a peaceful way. But in order for that to happen, North Korea’s posture has to change before there’s any basis for dialogue or discussions,' Tillerson added.

Retired Admiral James Stavridis told NBC that 'decapitation is always a tempting strategy when you're faced with a highly unpredictable and highly dangerous leader.'

But he added: 'The question you have to ask yourself is what happens the day after you decapitate? I think that in North Korea, it's an enormous unknown.'

Trump indicated Monday the U.S. would act alone if necessary. 'China will either decide to help us with North Korea or they won't,' Trump told the Financial Times.

'If they do, that will be very good for China, and if they don't, it won't be good for anyone.'

The developments emerged amid the fallout over the U.S. missile launch against Syria, a demonstration both of U.S. military force and of Trump's willingness to act militarily.